Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce The Big Apple, a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.

"Mexicatessen” appears in the names of several restaurants, an obvious blend of the words “Mexican” and “delicatessen.” Houston’s famous Herrera’s Mexicatessen served Tex-mex from 1957 until it closed at the end of 2006. Several restaurants named “Mexicatessen” exist in California.

A “Mexicatessen” is more a Tex-Mex restaurant than a German delicatessen, but this depends on the establishment.

Google BooksMexican Americans
by Joan W. Moore and Harry Pachon
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
1976
Pg. 124:
... or in Los Angeles, perhaps at a “Mexicatessen.” These words may amuse the Anglo but they are a source of deep embarrassment to many Mexican Americans, especially in their relationship with educated Mexican nationals.

Google BooksFamous All Over Town
by Danny Santiago
New York, NY: Simon and Schuster
1983
Pg. 106:
I was just going to turn back when by some miracle I saw them at the Mexicatessen.

2 December 1998, Fresno (CA) Bee, pg. E1:
Watch Sara Escobar as she stands inside the Mexicatessen, the Fulton Street eatery she’s owned and operated for the past 22 years, and plucks precise gobs of dough from a large bowl for her handmade tortillas.

Houston (TX) Chronicle
25 February 2002, Houston (TX) Chronicle, section A, pg. 23:
Benito R. Herrera, a sixth-generation Texan who traced his roots to one of the state’s earliest families, died Wednesday. He was 88.

Herrera was a direct descendant of Jose Francisco Ruiz, one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Although he was originally from San Antonio, Herrera worked for GeoSource here for 30 years. In 1956, he founded Mexicatessen Restaurant on Crosstimbers in northwest Houston.

Houston (TX) PressLandmark FajitasWhat you order at Herrera’s Mexicatessen depends on how you feel about bacon
By Robb Walsh
Published: November 25, 2004
(...)
At lunchtime, the old-fashioned Tex-Mex fare at Herrera’s Mexicatessen draws a crowd of Houston firemen, cops and UPS drivers. To their credit, the Herrera family, which owns the place, doesn’t engage in any silly debates about authenticity. The slogan on the menu reads, “Serving fine Tex-Mex food since 1957.”

Google BooksKiss Me Like a StrangerMy Search for Love and Art
by Gene Wilder
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
2005
Pg. 106 (July 1967):
I flew with Jo to El Paso, Texas, and took the bus to Juarez, passing the same gigantic sign, MEXICATESSEN, as we crossed into Mexico.

Google BooksLost and Found in Translation:Contemporary Ethnic Writing and the Politics of Language Diversity
by Martha J. Cutter
Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press
2005
Pp. 28-29:
Moraga and Delgado codeswtich in their texts—that is, they move from Spanish to English—but they also create a third dialect that creatively fuses Mexican Spanish and English and includes such terms as “mexicatessen” and “los slow ones.”

I haven’t been to Felix’s in quite a while, but I guess it’s now or never for those who want a last plate of enchiladas. With Leo’s gone as well, are there any other Tex-Mex restaurants left in town that date back to the 1950s besides Mexicatessen?

Houston (TX) PressWe asked Randy Evans, executive chef of Brennan’s of Houston, to answer some burning questions
By Robb Walsh
Published: February 1, 2007
(...)
I used to eat at Mexicatessen on Crosstimbers until it closed at the end of 2006. They had the best chili con carne with tamales and beef enchiladas—1950’s Tex-Mex.